Quin Snyder points to ‘perfect storm’ that wrecked Hawks in Game 6

The Atlanta Hawks’ season is now over, and what an embarrassing way to go that was for a team that was one of the best in the NBA since the All-Star break. It’s hard to believe that the Hawks led at one point in a game they lost by 51 points, 140-89, but they did: they took an 11-9 lead in the first quarter on a Jalen Johnson bucket. Since then, disaster ensued for Atlanta, as New York went on a 74-25 run to end the first half and essentially ended their season right there and then.

The Knicks made the Hawks’ life hell on offense, forcing one turnover after another; Atlanta ended the night with 19 total turnovers compared to New York’s 10. New York once again won the battle on the boards (46-35). And the Hawks being unable to take care of the basketball and make shots put them in such difficult spots over and over again, much to the Knicks’ delight.

Losing a closeout game at home is always tough. To do so by over 50 points is just flat-out mortifying. After the game, Hawks head coach Quin Snyder pinpointed the “perfect storm” that proved to be their undoing.

“I thought their physicality was significant. And we made some mistakes. We had breakdowns. We didn’t make shots. They did. It was a perfect storm,” Snyder said, per Kevin Chouinard of NBA.com.

The Hawks simply did not have enough juice on both ends of the floor to keep up with the Knicks, and Snyder saw that his team’s energy and physicality levels dropped, which then lost them the game.

“We had life and energy at the beginning of the game. And then some things happened on the court, obviously, that turned the game very quickly,” Snyder added.

This might be the worst way to go in the playoffs, but the Hawks have to take a step back and accept that this season, as a whole, was a promising one. A 51-point loss in a closeout game does not change that whatsoever, although Atlanta has to be going through some deep soul-searching at the moment.

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